Come visit with me as I stitch and craft my way from one Christmas to the next - I like to have Christmas projects close by me all year. I have a particular fondness for Santas and Angels. If you have the time, leave a comment so I know you've visited.

Monday, July 30, 2012

I'm a little early wih my first August report, because I won;t have computer access for the next two weeks or so, so I thought better earlier than later. It's been a relaxed stitching month for me. I've been stitching on Christmas ornaments, and in the past month I have crossed off a total of 7 ornaments from my stitching list. Here they are:

I have credited the designers in posts this month.

I'll be stitching on Christmas ornaments again in August - I hope to have five more ornaments crossed off my stitching list by the end of August.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Two Christmas gifts finished. The designs are oldies but goodies. the stocking design is adapted from LA's Christmas Caboodle leaflet (1986), and the Christmas is Love is adapted from ASN #3618, 50 Santas to Cross Stitch by Sam Hawkins (1993).﻿

Monday, July 9, 2012

These tiny stockings are Christmas gifts for my niece and her new fiance. I've lost count of the number of these stockings I have made over the past few years, they are favourites of mine. I adapted the design from the Littlest Stocking Design #7 by Kooler Studios (in LA's Christmas Ornaments booklet, 2003). The design is charted for perforated plastic, but I stitched it on fabric and backed it to make a real little stocking, and I added the cuff for the name. These little stockings are just 2.5cm (1") wide at the cuff, and 6cm (2.5") long. I won't stitch any more of these stockings this year, but I have at least four on my list for next year.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Wow - another month gone! This year has just been slipping away far too quickly for my liking. June was a good stitching month for me - a major finish (my HAED Jolly Old Fellow started in January 2009). I credit the WIPocalypse with providing the motivation to actually finish JOF this year. Left to my own devices I probably would have stitched the 10 pages I promised myself I would stitch this year and then moved on to start another stitchy project. So, big thanks to Measi for organising this WIPocalypse.

This was my Jolly Old Fellow at the beginning of 2012:

and here he is now (finished!):

JOF's details (designer etc) are in the panel at right.

I also stitched and finished this ornament:

Santa design is from the Faces of Santa Afghan design in LA's Christmas Keepsakes book (1990). Although not credited directly, I believe the designer to be Carol Emmer.

Size 625 stitches wide x 416 stitches high (66 A4 chart pages, large format). Commenced 1/1/2016. I am stitching on 22 count hardanger, with 2 strands of floss over 1, tent stitch, and I am stitching it sideways, as it was too wide for my frame. My aim is to have it framed and on my wall for Christmas 2020. I have now finished 19 of the 66 pages, and have now stitched 80,546 stitches of the total 260,000 - so it's about 31% completed.

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My Favourite Stitched Santa

This is the largest (and longest) of my many stitching projects over the past 30 years or so. It is HAED JG92105, Jolly Old Fellow (artwork by Dona Gelsinger, charted by Michele Sayetta), which I commenced January 2009, and finished on June 25, 2012. JOF is stitched over 1 on 22 count white hardanger. The charted size is 400 x 509 stitches, but I added 2 stitches to the width, making it 402 wide.